Black Box Recorder

2.9.03

"Tell me only the good things that come to mind about... your mother."
"My mother?"

A devastating psychiatric analysis of Bush appears in the Guardian. It provides an expert opinion for those of us who have always thought that the guy has... issues. One passage:

The outcome of [Bush's] childhood was what psychologists call an authoritarian personality. Authoritarianism was identified shortly after the second world war as part of research to discover the causes of fascism.

Authoritarian personalities are organised around rabid hostility to "legitimate" targets, often ones nominated by their parents' prejudices. Intensely moralistic, they direct it towards despised social groups. As people, they avoid introspection or loving displays, preferring toughness and cynicism. They regard others with suspicion, attributing ulterior motives to the most innocent behaviour. They are liable to be superstitious. All these traits have been described in Bush many times, by friends or colleagues.

While looking around for citation of Bush's joke, I came across this older analysis of Bush, which contains many of the same conclusions. The author of this analysis argues, however, that Bush is not a moron, but more of a sociopathic personality.